Page 81 of Talon

“My father’s very ill. Please send an ambulance right away,” I plead to the operator before giving them our address.

Allison continues to yell at me, insisting I’m blowing things out of proportion, but I ignore her. She’s already proven she can’t be trusted when it comes to my father’s wellbeing.

It seems like an eternity passes before the paramedics finally arrive. After checking his vitals, one of the paramedics gives me a strange look. They load my father onto a gurney, working quickly and efficiently.

“What’s wrong?” I demand.

One of them turns to me, concern etched on his face.“Your father’s very sick. Does he take any drugs or medications?”

Before I can answer, Allison interjects,“Randolph doesn’t take anything like that.”

“He has all the signs of an overdose. We need to get him to the hospital immediately.”

“I want to ride with him,” she says.

“No. I’m going with him. You knew how sick he was, yet you did nothing. You don’t deserve to go with them.” I glare at her.

“Fine. We’ll both go.” She smirks triumphantly.

“Only one person can ride with him,” the paramedic tells us.

Realizing we’re wasting precious time, I relent, allowing Allison to accompany my father while Talon and I agree to follow behind.

As the ambulance leaves, I climb onto the back of Talon’s motorcycle. My heart pounds as fear and anger course through my veins. How could Allison have let things get this bad? And why didn’t she ask for help sooner?

He revs the engine, and we take off, following closely behind the ambulance carrying my father. The wind tugs at my hair, but I barely notice it as my mind races, trying to make sense of everything that just happened.

“Jess, are you all right?” Talon asks me through the speakers in our helmets.

“I can’t believe she didn’t call for help earlier. What the hell is she hiding?”

“We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.” His grip on the handlebars tightens, turning his knuckles white.

As we weave through traffic, the ambulance’s lights flash and sirens wail, cutting a path for us through the busy streets. My thoughts circle back to Allison—her cold demeanor, her refusal to let me see my own father, and now, her insistence that he wasn’t on any medication. Something doesn’t add up, and I’m determined to find out what it is.

“Hey,” Talon calls out again, snapping me back to the present.“When we get to the hospital, just focus on your dad, okay? We’ll deal with Allison later.”

“Right,” I mutter, taking a deep breath and trying to steady myself. If Talon hadn’t been with me, I never would have gotten past Allison. He probably saved my dad’s life.

As we approach the hospital, the pit in my stomach grows. I’m terrified of what we might uncover. I’m positive Allison lied to the paramedics, but why? What’s she up to? Does she have something to do with why my dad’s so sick?

Talon parks in the closest spot he can find to the Emergency Room entrance. As we run toward the door, I cling to his hand, trusting him to keep me grounded while we try to find out what’s really going on. Whatever it is, it’s not good. My father’s never been this sick before. The thought of losing him guts me. I wouldn’t be able to take it if something happened to him. He has to be okay. He has to. Because if he dies, I don’t think my heart will be able to survive losing him, too.

Chapter 23: Talon

I lean against the sterile hospital wall, my eyes fixed on the door to Randolph’s room. She’s in there, talking to the doctors. I strain to catch snippets of their conversation through the wall.

“Drug overdose?” Jessica’s voice is a mix of disbelief and frustration.“My father never touched drugs in his life. Your information must be wrong.”

“Miss, we’re just trying to figure out what happened,” the male doctor replies defensively.“Given his symptoms, it’s a possibility that can’t be ignored.”

“Run more tests, then,” she demands, her tone firm but desperate.“My father never gets sick. Something isn’t right here.”

There’s a pause before the doctor asks,“Do you think your father could have been poisoned?”

“It’s possible,” she admits.

“We’ll run a more detailed tox screen and see what comes up.”

---